The Growing Flower
by VividSpectrum
Summary: All of his life, Harry grew up faster than he would of, had he led a normal life. But, now that his little girl is born, can he bear to see her grow up?
1. Chapter 1

Harry stared in awe at the bundle that was cradled in his arms.

The baby, wrapped in pink blankets, her eyes, big, beautiful, and bright green, were staring curiously at her father. The newborn had a tuft of hair on her head, the same fiery red color as her mother's. Her tiny hands were curled up into fists and brought up to her face. With one last glance around the hospital room, the baby closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

_Blimey,_ Harry thought, _She's so tiny._ He sat down, still cradling the baby in his arms. He looked up and saw Ron walking in, looking at the baby in his arm's.

"Congrats, mate," said Ron, smiling at his new niece. "Blimey, she's tiny, isn't she?"

"Yeah," said Harry, smiling weakly. The child looked so fragile and delicate. _What if I mess up? _Thought Harry. Never having a daughter before, Harry had no idea what to expect. It was just like having his first son, James again. When James was born, Harry didn't know anything about raising a child. This time, Harry Potter, the man who fearlessly defeated Voldemort, was almost scared to death, worrying about how he would raise his little girl.

"You'll do fine, mate," said Ron, apparently reading Harry's mind. "I know you're worried, but believe me. She won't be that different from James or Albus. Speaking of James and Albus, here they are."

Harry looked up and saw that five more people entered the room. Molly walked in, with by Harry's two sons. Four-year old James and two-year old Albus looked absolutely delighted at the idea of having a new sister. Hermione also walked in, holding her daughter, Rose. The two-year old girl was holding her mother's hand and was sucking her knuckles, looking around at the hospital room.

"Hello, Harry," Hermione said softly, noticing the sleeping baby.

"Daddy!" said James, running up to his father. He peered at his new little sister. After a moment or two, he smiled. "Hi Lily," he whispered, "I'm your broder, James. I'm gonna be da best big broder in da world!" (He was unable to pronounce some words properly, being four years old.)

Harry smiled at James, glad that his oldest son was happy.

"She's beautiful Harry," whispered Molly. "Can I hold her?"

Harry gently handed Lily to Molly, afraid that he would drop her and she would break. She was so tiny.

"I brought James and Albus" said Molly. "I knew that they would be happy to see you, Ginny and Lily."

"Thank you Molly, Ginny's resting right now." Harry said weakly.

After a moment, Molly handed her newborn granddaughter back to Harry. "She's so precious Harry."

The baby blinked her eyes opened and stared curiously at the newcomers.

Ron grinned, "She looks like Ginny, but has your eyes, mate. I bet that she'll get annoyed , just like you did, when people compared you to your parents. But instead, people will tell her 'you look like your mother, but you have your father's eyes."

Everyone in the room stared laughing.

"She looks a lot like my mum." said Harry, amazed at his daughter's resemblance to her Harry's late mother.

"Well," said Ron, "I guess that she _was_ named after her."

Harry laughed and looked down at his newborn daughter once again. _She's absolutely perfect, _Harry thought. _Lily Luna Potter. My little girl._

"I love you, my Lily-bug," Harry said softly to the child.

Grasping onto Harry's finger, the child once again fell asleep.

"Sweet dreams, my little girl," Harry whispered into his sleeping daughter's ear.

**Thanks for reading so far! Please drop a review, it would mean a lot to me. I know that this chapter is short and I'll try my best to update as quickly as possible. This is my first fan-fiction and I know that I'll make mistakes. Please bear with me! Once again, thanks a whole bunch for reading!**

**-M.M**


	2. Chapter 2

"Mummy, Lily woke up." said James. The day was a breezy spring one, and it was about 6 o 'clock in the evening, almost time for dinner.

"Thank you James." Ginny sighed, praying that the infant wouldn't start crying. "She's not crying, is she?" It seemed that Harry was the only one who could ever get the four-month old baby to stop crying once she started, no matter how hard anyone else tried.

"No Mummy," said James. "She's playing wiv Al."

"Can you watch them please, James?" Ginny asked. "Make sure that nobody gets accidentally hurt."

"Otay, Mummy." said James, walking to the room that his siblings were in. "Hiya, Al"

"Hewwo." Albus replied. Albus, who had only just turned three, was making colorful puffs of smoke appear, trying to entertain his baby sister. The puffs of smoke circled Lily and disappeared when the baby waved her hand in the smoke. Albus and Lily were both with laughter.

"Wow, Al!" Exclaimed James, "How did you do dat?"

Ginny walked into the room to see what was making her baby laugh so hard. She did not expect to see her three year old son, purposely doing magic at that young of an age. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Mummy!" exclaimed Al. "Watch me!" Albus made another puff of colorful smoke appear, causing Lily to roar with laughter again.

"Merlin, Al." said Ginny. "How are you doing that?"

Albus cocked his head and shrugged. He pointed at Lily, "It make Lily happy!"

"Your doing that on purpose?" James asked.

Albus happily nodded his head.

James sighed and walked out of the room. _How can Al do that?_ He wondered. And why_ can't I do anything like that? Am I a squib? _James thought, remembering his father explain to him what a squib was. James sat down on his bed, feeling like crying. James did _not_ want to be a squib. Suddenly, James was mad at Al. _Why does he have to rub it in my face, that he can do magic right now, and I can't! _WhatJames didn't realize, was that Albus was only doing it to make Lily happy._ I'm supposed to be older than him!_ Those thoughts were raging in his head, when suddenly, the window that he was staring at shattered. James jumped back in shock.

Ginny ran in, hearing something shatter. _"_What happened, James?"

James pointed at the window, unable to speak.

"Did you break it?" His mother asked sternly.

"I-I didn't mean to," James stammered. "I-I was mad at Al, because I couldn't do magic and he could, and I was sad because I thought I was a squib, and d-den da window b-broke."

"That's alright, James." Ginny's face softened up and she repaired the broken window. "And just because you can't do magic now, doesn't mean you're a squib, dear. That's really rare at that age, to do what Albus can do. Anyways," she pointed at the newly-repaired window, "it looks like you just did magic."

James's face lit up and he heard the front door open. "Daddy's home!" he yelled.

James heard Albus run downstairs, and he quickly followed him.

"Daddy!" Albus yelled, giving Harry a hug.

Harry smiled, "Hello, James. Hello, Al." He looked at Lily, who was sitting on the couch with her teddy bear. He picked her up and said, "How's my Lily-bug."

The little infant smiled at her father and clapped her hands.

Harry sat down on the couch next to Ginny, who was listening to the radio. "So, did anything interesting happen today?"

"Actually, yes," said Ginny. "Well, er...Al was playing with Lily today and, um, he was doing magic. Purposely."

"Purposely?" asked Harry, skeptically.

"Er, yes." Ginny still found it hard to believe that her son could do that. "He was making colorful puffs of smoke appear, to make Lily laugh."

Harry remembered the memory, his own father making puffs of smoke to entertain him. "But Al's only three. Can James do anything like that?"

"No, not on purpose, but he accidentally made a window shatter, when he was angry."

Harry smiled, "Al did it only to make Lily-bug laugh?"

"Well," said Ginny, "that's what he said."

"Surprising, for a three-year old," said Harry. "Extremely surprising."

"Yes dear, I know." She sighed "Well, dear, I think that I'm going to bed, I'm really tired."

She got up and walked upstairs, leaving Harry to dwell on the many thoughts in his head. _I don't think I've ever heard of anyone purposely doing magic at that age. And Al says that he did it to make his sister happy. Great brother. James too, he always seems to go out of his way, just to make his baby sister happy._ It seemed that only yesterday, his little girl was born, Al being absolutely delighted, and James promising to be the best older brother in the world.

After a while, Harry decided to go to bed. He walked upstairs, glad that his little girl had such great brothers to look out for her.

**I guess that this chapter was longer this time, wasn't it. Please leave a review and tell me what you think, It would make me REALLY happy. Thank you so much for those of you who have been reading so far. I'll try to update as soon as possible. Until next time...**

**-M.M.**


	3. Chapter 3

It was a warm summer day in August. The sun was shining brightly, and the two Potter boys were playing outside. Albus and James were riding their toy brooms, flying all around the yard.

Lily Potter was sitting on the porch with her mother. The nine-month old baby was stating in awe at the brooms, watching her brothers play catch with a quaffle.

Ginny smiled as when she saw her daughter watching in awe. "Lily," said Ginny, trying once again to get her daughter to speak. "can you say 'Mummy'?"

The baby eyed her mother for a second, then continued to watch her brothers.

"Can you say 'Daddy'?"

Lily looked at Harry, who was reading the paper, then continued to watch Albus and James.

"Can you say 'James'?"

The child refused.

"How about 'Al'?"

The child still refused.

Ginny sighed in defeat. _Maybe some other time,_ she thought. She continued to watch her daughter stare at the brooms. Suddenly, she had an idea. "Lily?"

Lily looked at her mother again.

"Can you say 'broom'?

Lily stared at her mother for a couple moments, looked at the brooms, then looked at Ginny. Finally, the nine-month old girl said her first words. "Bwoom! Bwoom bwoom bwoom!"

Harry smiled and picked up his daughter, but Lily didn't stop there.

"Mummy! Dadda! James! Al!"

James looked over when he heard his sister call his name. This was a very bad idea. The quaffle crashed into his broom, knocking him off of it. Luckily, the ground was quite soft, and he wasn't hurt as bad as he would have. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for his broom. Even after he fell off, the broom continued to zoom around, until it crashed into the nearest tree. James was too busy crying in pain to notice his broken broom. Harry and Albus both rushed towards James.

"Bwoom! Bwoom go boom! James huwt!" Lily shrieked, her fiery red tuft of hair bouncing back and forth when she shook her head in despair. She crawled towards James, who was still crying. The baby put her teddy bear on top of her brother's chest, causing James to immediately stopped crying.

"Fow you." said Lily

James looked at the bear lying on his chest. "Really, Lil? You never let anyone else touch your bear."

"Fow you." she repeated again, giving her oldest brother a toothless grin.

James smiled, "Thanks, Lil."

Lily pointed at the broken broom. "Bwoom go boom." she said, seriously.

James looked towards the broom and his face fell.

Lily crawled on top of her brother. "No cwy, James. No cwy!"

James gave his baby sister a hug. "That's alright, Lily, I won't. It was just a toy." He looked at the little bear in his hands. "I like this toy better!"

Lily nodded seriously and James wondered if she could actually understand him. Something about the way she was looking at him made him feel like she could understand more than just his words.

Harry woke up when he heard crying from across the hall. Ginny was still sleeping deeply. _She deserves the rest, she's been busy all day,_ he thought as he got up from bed, towards his daughter's room. The baby was almost yelling when he got there. Carefully, he picked up the baby from her crib and began rocking her back and forth. "What's wrong, Lily-bug?"

Lily looked at her father with her big green eyes. She continued to sniffle.

Since the day she was born, Lily's resemblance to her grandmother grew stronger. Her hair became a slightly darker shade of red since the day she was born, more like Lily Evans's than Ginny's, and her eyes became even brighter.

Harry sighed and took her downstairs and out to the yard. The stars were twinkling and shining brightly.

Lily stopped crying and looked at the stars curiously. She pointed at the brightest one and cocked her head, as if she was asking a question.

"They're stars, Lily."

"Staws?"

"Yes, stars."

"Staws!" Lily repeated clapping her hands.

Lily continued to look at he stars, watching each one twinkle and shine, until she fell asleep.

"Good night, Lily" Harry whispered softly.

Harry watched his sleeping daughter for some time. Almost a year ago she was born, and it felt like just yesterday. He sighed, wishing that she wouldn't grow so fast. _If this is how I feel when she's only a year old, imagine how it'll be when she's even older_, Harry thought.

Harry went inside and upstairs. He put his sleeping baby into her crib and went back to bed, almost immediately falling asleep.

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a review, I haven't gotten any yet :( Anyways, I'll update again as soon as possible. Thanks for reading and for any favs/follows so far, It really makes my day! Until next time...**

**-M.M**


	4. Chapter 4

It was a cold, snowy day in December. The whole Weasley- Potter family were at the Burrow, celebrating James's fifth birthday. Inside, the house was swarming with family members and friends. Most of the kids were outside, having a snowball fight on the hill.

Lily was seen crawling all around the house, disappearing from room to room. The child was shrieking happily and climbing onto anything that she could. She had already broken a couple of plates and decorations, and was still full of energy.

Molly was sitting outside on the porch with Hugo, watching Teddy and Albus play catch. The ten-year old was about to throw the ball, when he saw a blur of red hair crawl by. Lily was still crawling full speed around the entire place. Teddy picked her up and said, "Wow, Lil! You never run out of energy, do you?"

"Me zoom!" Lily laughed. "Zoom! Zoom! Zoom!"

Teddy put the child down and threw the ball to Albus.

Lily crawled towards Albus.

Albus threw it back to Teddy.

Lily crawled back to Teddy.

Teddy threw it to Albus, who accidentally dropped it this time.

Lily crawled full-speed towards the ball, and at that moment, she stood up and waddled towards it. "Me catch!" she yelled happily. The toddler tossed the ball up in the air. It slowly floated back towards the ground, like a feather, instead of simply falling.

Molly beamed at the toddler. Lily had just taken her first steps and, unless Molly was very much mistaken, she had just shown her first sign of magic.

Everyone was inside now. It was time for lunch, and most importantly, time for birthday cake.

"Make a wish, James." said Ginny.

_Hmm, what do I wish for, _thought James, _um I wish that...I wish that...I wish that I get a new broom soon!_ He blew out the candles Ginny cut out slices of cake, giving some to everyone.

"What did you wish for?" asked Fred, James's best friend and cousin.

"I wanted a new broom," James replied cheerily, "My old one broke."

"Cool!" Fred grinned. "Then we can finally play quidditch together! I bet you can't beat me!"

"I bet I can!"

After everyone had delicious pieces cake, it was the time that James was looking forward to the most. Present time.

There was a fairly decent stack of presents this year.

James opened them all, one by one. So far he got a giant box of sweets from Molly and Arthur, a new quidditch set from Teddy and Andromeda, and even a pet barn owl from Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione. He continued opening them all, until there was only one box left.

James picked up the last box, the present from his parents. It was long and narrow. Slowly, he tore open the packaging. James couldn't believe his eyes. He got a new broom. His wish came true already.

He stared in awe at the newly polished handle with the golden words _Firebolt_ etched into the wood.

"Bwoom!" Lily shrieked happily. "New Bwoom!"

"Mum! Dad! It's just what I wanted! Thank you!" James got up and tightly hugged his parents.

Harry smiled and Ginny said, "We're glad that you like it, dear."

"James," Teddy and Fred piped up. "Can we take it for a test run?"

James looked at his parents, who nodded their heads.

The boys raced outside and and James mounted on the broom. It rose up in the air and soared through the sky. It turned on the slightest touch and he only had to lean slightly for the broom to speed up. James made many loops, rolls and sharp turns, he was quite a decent flier, considering that his was only his first broom. After flying all around the sky, James leaned forward and landed gracefully on the ground.

"That," James yelled, "was awesome!"

James gave the broom to Teddy. Once Teddy kicked off, James realized that it was almost as cool to watch someone ride the broom, as it was to ride it yourself. It was fun watching someone make sharp turns, swerves, swivels, and loops in the air. James was fascinated by the balance of the Firebolt.Riding on his first broom made James realize something. _I love flying,_ he thought. _I want to be a great quidditch player, one of the best ones ever!_

The boys took turn riding on the Firebolt until it was almost dusk. They went inside, all three of them windswept and exhausted.

James and Fred sat around James's new barn owl.

"What are you going to name him?" asked Fred

"Er, I'm not sure." said James. "Do you want to help me think of names?"

They both tried to think of different names that would suit a barn owl. After many names they came up with, none of them fit.

Finally, Fred spoke, "How about 'Flynn'?"

"Flynn?" said James, "Yeah, I like the name Flynn."

"What do you think," Fred asked the owl, "Do you like the name Flynn?"

The owl hooted softly.

"Well," said James, "Flynn it is!"

Lily was sleeping on the couch, finally tired out. After taking those first couple steps today, the toddler was toddling all over the place, refusing to stay put. It took a lot of trying and failing to to finally get her to go to sleep. The toddler just had a _lot_ of energy inside her little body.

James sat down next to his little sister. "Great day for both of us, huh Lil?" James whispered to the sleeping child. "You take your first steps, and I get my first real broom."

James might have imagined it, but he could have sworn that he saw his little sister smile a little.

**Thanks for reading so far! Please review and tell me what you think, It would make me really happy! Follows/Favs would be really appreciated. I'll update again soon. Until next time...**

**-M.M**

**P.S. I hope that you liked the owl's name. C:**


End file.
